This invention relates to a novel treatment of a Helicobacter infection with known naphthyridine carboxylic acid antibacterial compounds and a novel treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers with such known compounds.
H. pylori, a pathogenic bacterium discovered in 1982, has been established as the cause of gastric and duodenal ulcers in humans. In clinical trials, eradication of the organism has been shown to result in healing of the ulcer and a low incidence of relapse. Although numerous individual antibacterial agents inhibit the growth of Helicobacter organisms in vitro, these agents usually fail in in vivo human and animal trials, when administered as single agents.
Infections in animals are caused by related organisms. For example, H. mustelae is pathogenic in ferrets, and H. felis in cats.
The compounds of use in this invention are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,402.